My office is festive. i like it this way. lights, garland, tinsel, tree...its all very warm. i have candles burning...i feel so very much like a youth pastor right now. I even made a call from my office phone today, which always makes me feel dignified and legitimate. Despite wrestling with facebook for half an hour trying to convince it to let me post a video on someone's wall, today has been rather calm and dreamy.
I spent the majority of the day mulling over, writing and reworking the values, goals and vision statement for Ignite so it can go up on the new website in a few weeks. This creedo reads, in part, that we are Love Focused, Relationship Oriented and God centered. it says that we, as a group desire to Love Jesus, Love people, Know our Culture and bring Jesus to our culture. it is, at it's core, meant to inspire, to ignite (pardon the pun) passion and give vision, focus and direction. i hope it does. whenever i see those words and think about what they mean i get inspired (which is good...). But i do wonder how many of my Jr. High students who see our values and vision written on the walls of the Subway really see them. really study them. really know them. really LIVE them. Vision is worthless unless it is lived out.
I'm a visionary type of guy. but just because i HAVE vision doesn't mean that i automatically convey it...or even live it. The passion in me is worthless unless it produces passion in others. and that passion is worthless unless it drives people in a direction that fulfills God's purpose and glorifies His name.
Vision: "A picture of the future that produces passion" -Bill Hybels
Passion.
What in interesting word. it is used to describe everything from Christ's death on the cross to inner strength and conviction to a sexy scene in a movie that you need to fast forward. I wish i could really define it.
Passion.
Where does it come from? does a proper vision ignite passion? or does passion ignite a proper vision? Does the frenzied thoughts of my brain fuel my passion or is it the splashing overflow of my bubbling heart?
Passion.
I have it. i want it. i need it.
These little vanilla and cinnamon flavored candles burn brightly above me under my gaudy tree. The wax levels are already noticably lower than they were yesterday when i lit them for the first time. this could be due to the fact that they have been lit for a considerable length of time. but regardless, i cant help but be stirred. The flame, once ignited consumes the wax. it burns it away. it disappears into little tendrils of smoke drifting up and away into oblivion. So often i feel like the fire of my passion, once ignited and fused to my ministry and vision has the same effect. over time, if i'm not watching, i turn around to see that my vision is dry, it is run down, in danger of running out. Vision must be maintained, supplied, received from God...not just conceived. These little whisps of smoke curling towards the ceiling (hopefully not towards the smoke alarm), and disappearing, remind me artfully to place the care and focus of my vision in the capable and skilled hands of God. the author and protector of my passion and vision.
A wise man once said: Vision without action is daydream...action without vision is a nightmare.
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